January 13, 2008
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

Turn on the Light!
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 (NCV)

“’Of Solomon.’ God, give the king your good judgment and the king's son your goodness. ²Help him judge your people fairly and decide what is right for the poor. ³Let there be peace on the mountains and goodness on the hills for the people. ⁴Help him be fair to the poor and save the needy and punish those who hurt them. ⁵May they respect you as long as the sun shines and as long as the moon glows. ⁶Let him be like rain on the grass, like showers that water the earth. ⁷Let goodness be plentiful while he lives. Let peace continue as long as there is a moon. Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such miracles. ¹⁹Praise his glorious name forever. Let his glory fill the whole world. Amen and amen”

This seems to be a prayer for Solomon, possibly a coronation prayer.  It is a prayer that God will help the king be the kind of ruler that God wants to have.  Historically, the Church has also seen this as a description of the kind of person and rule the Messiah would bring about.

That being said, it would also speak to the kind of leadership people ought to see from God’s people.  Let’s investigate the opportunity and responsibility we have as Christians—people of the Messiah.

Christians are God’s royal priesthood connecting people and God.

   “God, give the king your good judgment and the king’s son your goodness.”

The prayer is for God’s leadership to have good judgment and to bring goodness into people’s lives.  It was for the end of dark days, and the coming of light, joy, good living.

1 Peter 2:9-10-“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

This Scripture reminds us who we are in Christ, the Messiah and of the privilege and responsibility we have as His people.  This can never be seen as a source of arrogance or selfish pride—because it is ours only by God’s mercy and underserved gift.  It should be the cause of a motivating humble gratitude.

A.  We are people of position—I am accepted in Christ.

John 1:12-“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”

Romans 5:1-“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”   I am a child of God, a saved person not because of what I have done but because of what Christ has done for me and given me as His gift.  Jesus has placed me in the presence of God as accepted.

B.  We are people of presence—Secure in Christ.

Romans 8:1-2-“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

Col. 3:3-“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Romans 8:35-“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

I don’t have to worry about my salvation or God’s love for me. 

C.  We are people of power—Significant in Christ.

Matthew 5:13-14-“’You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

¹⁴"You are the light of the world.’”

2 Cor. 5:19-20-“ And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Ephes. 2:10-“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Because of my being in Christ, and Christ being in me, I am better able to reach out to other people and offer them the hand of God’s fellowship and hope, too.  I am able to complete the deeds of God.

People discover God in our actions.

   “²Help him judge your people fairly and decide what is right for the poor. ³Let there be peace on the mountains and goodness on the hills for the people. ⁴Help him be fair to the poor and save the needy and punish those who hurt them.

⁵May they respect you as long as the sun shines and as long as the moon glows.

⁶Let him be like rain on the grass, like showers that water the earth.  ⁷Let goodness be plentiful while he lives.  Let peace continue as long as there is a moon.”

People in this world, especially in hard situations find it easy to get discouraged and to be angry with or even reject God.  People say, “God doesn’t care.”  “I’m cursed.”  “God doesn’t exist in a terrible world like this.”

    On a street corner a small boy was holding a mirror in his hand, reflecting the light of the sun toward a house and centering the bright spot on one of the windows.  “What are you doing?” asked a man who was passing by?

    “My brother is sick in that house,” said the little boy, “and since the sun never enters his room, I was trying to reflect a little of it in there with this mirror.”^[i]

God’s king, God’s Messiah, and God’s Messiah’s people are to bring good to the land.  To show light to people.  To help them find the way to have a better life and to see light come back into their eyes.

Christians must not neglect this opportunity and responsibility to help turn on the light in people’s lives.  Romans 2:23-24 (NLT)-“You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. ²⁴No wonder the Scriptures say, ‘The world blasphemes the name of God because of you.’”

    A couple took their young son with them on a trip to Europe where they visited many of the cathedrals on the tourist trek.  When they returned home, the little boy’s Sunday school teacher asked him, “Did you learn what a saint is?”

    He remembered the many stained glass windows which depicted the Christian saints so beautifully, and he said, “A saint is a man who the light shines through.”  That is about the best definition I’ve ever heard.  It is a good testimony to what we are trying to do here on earth.^[ii]

By our actions we worship God.

     “¹⁸Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such miracles.  ¹⁹Praise his glorious name forever.  Let his glory fill the whole world.  Amen and amen.”

It is imperative that we don’t try to be a Christian just on Sunday!  In a very real sense you spiritual growth in Christ is measured not by what you do on Sunday but by how you live in Christ ALL the time.

Since we are the royal priesthood of God, with the blessing and responsibility we cannot put that on and take it off at will.  We must think about God during the week.  We must see ourselves as serving Him—worshipping Him as we live at home, at work, at school, in the restaurant, or wherever we are.  That is how God will judge the quality of our worship!

Romans 12:1-“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Ephes. 6:7-8-“Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, ⁸because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”

What will you do now?

The Light has come!  The Light has come to you.  Turn on the light by how you interact with people that the light may bring grace and mercy to people through YOU! 

Amen.

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